Tennis: Robredo ends US Open run of British qualifier Evans - GMA News

The Cinderella run of British qualifier Dan Evans at the US Open came to a shuddering halt on Saturday (Sunday, PHL time) when he was knocked out in the third round.

The 23-year-old fell 7-6 (6) 6-1 4-6 7-5 to Spain's Tommy Robredo after a tense three and a quarter hour battle at Flushing Meadows.

Evans, ranked 179th in the world, had captured the imagination of New York after his unlikely run to the third round but faltered just when it seemed he was on the verge of claiming another big scalp.

He had already pulled off the biggest upset of the opening round when beat Japan's Kei Nishikori, ranked 11th in the world, and followed that up by beating Bernard Tomic in the second round.

His win over Tomic was all the sweeter because the Australian's father had once prevented Evans from practicing with his son, telling him he was not good enough.

Robredo, an experienced campaigner who has been on the grand slam circuit for more than a decade, was always going to be a tough opponent for Evans and the Spaniard looked to be cruising to victory after winning the first two sets.

But the 19th seed began to struggle in the third set because of a leg injury that required medical treatment and had to be iced at each change of ends.
Evans won the third set and had two set points on his own serve in the fourth and the crowd on his side at Louis Armstrong Stadium.

Then the wheels suddenly came off. He served two double faults and Robredo reeled off the last four games in a row to seal victory and set up a fourth round meeting with either Roger Federer or Adrian Mannarino. - Reuters

Ex-royal limousine sells for $70000 - Sky News Australia

Updated: 13:43, Sunday September 1, 2013

The description 'one careful lady owner' particularly applies to a Daimler car auctioned for more than STG40,000 ($A69,970) - as it once belonged to the Queen.

Complete with a space to accommodate the royal handbag, the 2001 Daimler Super V8 LWB limousine was owned, and driven by, the Queen for three years until 2004.

It was sold on Saturday by auction house Historics at Brooklands in Surrey and fetched a hammer price of STG40,500 - a figure which is subject to commission and does not include the buyer's premium.

Sporting a British Racing Green livery, the car was tested over 4000km pre-delivery miles before being handed over to the Queen.

A further 17,700km were covered while the car was with the Queen before the vehicle was returned in 2004 to the Jaguar Daimler Heritage Trust, with which it is still registered.

The car was offered with all its specifications, including its original tyres.

One feature is a factory-adapted centre armrest that has a sliding holder specifically designed for the Queen's handbag.

The vehicle's ashtray was crafted to house the security lighting controls, which remain fully functioning.

This includes a set of blue flashing strobes occupying the front fog lamp inserts, alternate flashing headlamps and alternate flashing rear lights.

A further feature is a pair of neon blue lights by the rear view mirror, which were used to identify the vehicle in which the Queen was travelling when approaching her destination.

In the vehicle's capacious boot, the fittings can still be found for direct contact to the Home Office and Downing Street, although the working components have been removed.

Inside, there are deep lambswool floor rugs.

Unsurprisingly, the car has a full service history by RA Creamer of Kensington and Guy Salmon of Ascot, and was sold with all original documentation, two sets of keys and original registration number, along with photographs of the Queen driving and being driven in it.

Hubble Telescope Spots Cosmic Caterpillar (PHOTO/ VIDEO) - Auto World News

A cosmic caterpillar was spotted by astronomers in the middle of metamorphosis.

The protostar is approximately 4,500 light-years away from Earth in the constellation Cygnus, according to Discovery News.

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Astronomers were able to spot IRAS 20324+4057 by using the Hubble Advanced Camera.

The glowing white part of the caterpillar shape is the core of the protostar, according to the Los Angeles Times. This is where astronomers believe the nuclear process has started, which allows the collection of plasma, dust, and gas to "shine with its own light," according to Zolt Levay of the Space Telescope Science Institute in Baltimore.

During normal star production, the core of the star would be seen surrounded by a sphere of dust and gas that is pulled into it through gravity.

What is seen in the Hubble image is not a normal star formation.

The bright stars seen on the right of the image taken are O-type behemoths, which produce "strong stellar winds and powerful radiation pressure" according to Discovery News.

The star is seen in the photo trying to emerge right in the middle of the winds and radiation.

"The collection of stars in this region, known as the Cygnus OB2 association, is a rough neighborhood for a star to be born," said Discovery News about the cloud.

Stars in this location can be one to 10 times the size of our sun, but if the caterpillar star can't beat the stellar wind, it could be smaller than most nearby stars, according to a Hubble spokesperson.

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Frears eager for pope to see his latest film - Boston Herald

VENICE, Italy — Director Stephen Frears really wants Pope Francis to see his latest film, "Philomena," the true story of a shamed Irish woman forced by nuns to give her son up for adoption in the 1950s. He wants it so much, he said so three times during a news conference on Saturday.

"I am very, very keen that the pope should see it, if you have any influence in those quarters," Frears told reporters ahead of the film's world premiere in competition at the Venice Film Festival.

Asked to explain, he said: "He seems like a rather good bloke, the pope."

"Philomena" stars Judi Dench in the title role as a woman who sought to locate her son, and Steve Coogan, as Martin Sixsmith, the journalist who accompanied her on her journey and wrote a 2009 book, which itself has been a catalyst for thousands of "shamed" Irish mothers who similarly lost their children to come forward.

"Whatever has happened in the past, a policy of openness and honesty is really the way forward. I think in a very small way, that is what this film is saying," said screenwriter Jeff Pope.

In the story, Philomena Lee has kept the out-of-wedlock birth of her son secret for 50 years, while trying to locate him through the convent where she delivered him and was forced to work for four years to repay the nuns for taking her in. She and the other young mothers there were allowed to see their children for an hour a day.

Philomena's child, Anthony, was adopted when he was three. On his 50th birthday she grows a new determination to find out how his life turned out and if he ever thought of her — finally revealing her secret. Sixsmith, a cynical former political journalist who was just fired from a government job, reluctantly takes on the human interest story and sets off on a journey to the United States with Philomena — a pairing that gives comedic turns to the tragic story.

Coogan, who also co-wrote the screenplay, said the film needed some comic relief, "otherwise it would be just a tragic, depressing story. The humor was important to lighten the mood, and sugar the pill. It was also important we didn't overdo it. I said, 'If I mug too much, or if my face becomes too animated, tell me to turn it down.' "

He said most of Frears' direction was motioning from the side to bring it down a notch.

Dench called it "a shockingly terrible story, and it rightly should be told." The actress met Philomena several times before filming, and admired her enduring faith and ability to forgive, which "is what makes her extreme, and makes the story worth telling," Dench said.

Wonga To Waive Dividend Despite Record Profit - Sky News

By Mark Kleinman, City Editor

Wonga, the financial services company which has found itself at the heart of the controversy over the payday lending industry, will on Tuesday announce that it made record profits of more than £1m-a-week last year.

Sky News understands that the privately-owned group will report annual earnings of roughly £65m for 2012, an increase of approximately 50% on the previous year, buoyed by a huge spurt in customer numbers and ongoing international expansion.

The results will reinforce Wonga's status as one of the UK's most successful technology companies, although they will also provide further ammunition for critics of the sector weeks after it became the target of a broadside from the Archbishop of Canterbury.

Errol Damelin, Wonga's founder and chief executive, will say on Tuesday that Wonga will maintain its record of eschewing a dividend and ploughing the company's earnings back into product development and a push into new markets.

Referring to the Church of England's desire to participate in the growing credit union movement, Dr Justin Welby said he had told Mr Damelin that he wanted to "compete [the company] out of existence".

The remarks sparked acute embarrassment for the Archbishop, however, when it emerged that the Church of England's pension fund was among the investors in one of Wonga's financial backers.

Wonga has sought to counter many of the criticisms levelled at payday lenders by pointing out that it only makes short-term loans to consumers and highlighting the fact that it only lends money to consumers who have been subjected to credit-checks. Customers can also repay loans early with no additional charge.

Dr Welby subsequently sought to clarify his remarks by praising Mr Damelin's track record as a businessman and denying that he was seeking to portray Wonga as an irresponsible company.

Earlier this year, the payday lending sector was referred to the Competition Commission amid political anger about the activities of some short-term lenders.

In 2014, the industry will come under the remit of the Financial Conduct Authority, and the City regulator will have powers allowing it to ban advertising and impose a cap on interest rates charged by lenders.

In remarks published on its website last month, Wonga said: "Since 2007 Wonga has responsibly lent over £2bn and we now have over a million customers.

"We've done that despite declining three quarters of all first loan applications and ensuring a principal default rate (money lent that we don't get back) of around 7%. This is comparable to other forms of short-term credit, such as credit cards.

"We work hard to lend only to the people who can pay us back, and our mainstream services for individuals and businesses are now available across three continents."

Wonga, which is planning to launch in Spain, declined to comment on its 2012 results ahead of Tuesday's announcement.

The record profits will fuel speculation that Wonga's management and shareholders will look to float the company on New York's Nasdaq technology stock exchange, although such a move is unlikely in the near term.

East Antarctic ice sheet 'vulnerable' to temperature changes - BBC News

29 August 2013 Last updated at 06:04 ET By Matt McGrath Environment correspondent, BBC News

The world's thickest ice sheet may be at greater risk from variations in the climate than previously believed.

Scientists found that glaciers on the East Antarctic Ice Sheet (EAIS) advance and retreat in synch with changes in temperature.

Since it contains enough water to raise global sea levels by over 50m, there is an urgent need to study the threat the researchers said.

The research has been published in the journal Nature.

Scientists have long been worried about the threat to sea levels from the prospect of melting in Greenland and in West Antarctica.

Continue reading the main story

"Start Quote

We are seeing a very sensitive reaction which we've never really seen before"

End Quote Dr Chris Stokes Durham University

Greenland has had an annual loss of 140 billion tonnes over the past 20 years. Recent studies have indicated that Greenland will be much greener by 2100 thanks to global warming.

Researchers are also concerned about West Antarctica, where scientists have recently concluded that warming waters are causing a loss of ice from the shelf.

But most scientists have dismissed concerns over East Antarctica, the world's biggest ice sheet. Temperatures there can get down to minus 30C, meaning that it was essentially impervious to small, cyclical changes.

Now a new analysis questions that assumption.

Researchers at Durham University looked at declassified spy satellite imagery dating from 1963 to 2012. They used the pictures to detect changes in 175 glaciers as they flow into the sea along the 5,400km of coastline.

They found a strong pattern of ebb and flow. In the 1970s and 80s, when temperatures were rising they found that 63% of glaciers were retreating. During the 1990s, when temperatures decreased, 72% of the glaciers advanced.

"It is the first study to show that there is acute sensitivity in this particular ice sheet to climate variation," said Dr Chris Stokes who lead the research.

"When we found these clear trends of advance and retreat, it was quite unexpected. But when we looked at the climate records it wasn't unexpected at all because they were just doing what the climate told them to do."

The researchers say that there is no immediate threat to global sea levels from their findings - but they are urging further investigation.

"People have thought because it is so big and so cold, it must be some way off a threshold of showing a reaction to climate but actually it is quite sensitive and we can see melt water ponds forming along the margin of this part of the ice sheet.

"In the next 100 years or so we could be looking at similar changes as we've seen in Greenland and West Antarctica.

"We are seeing a very sensitive reaction which we've never really seen before."

The scientists say there is no clear trend of warming in this part of Antarctica unlike the rest of the of world. The situation is complicated by the hole in the ozone layer that is changing wind directions and speeds.

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Outrage in India over first Delhi gang-rape sentence - Bangkok Post

Indian newspapers and politicians called for harsher punishments for juveniles Sunday after the first verdict in the New Delhi gang-rape case saw a teenager sentenced to three years' detention.

Policemen escort a convicted juvenile from court following his guilty verdict in the New Delhi gang-rape case on August 31, 2013. Indian newspapers called for harsher punishments for juveniles Sunday after the first verdict in the gang-rape case saw the teenager sentenced to three years' detention.

The rape and murder of a 23-year-old student by six people, including a 17-year-old on a moving bus last December sparked nationwide protests and led to calls for longer sentences in sexual assault cases.

"TRAVESTY: December 16 teen rapist 'gets away' with murder," a headline in the tabloid Mail Today read, summing up the mood.

The convicted teen will now spend about 28 months in a juvenile detention centre, having already spent about eight months in custody while awaiting a verdict.

"He can watch TV, play games while doing time," the Hindustan Times reported, while pointing out that police sources had earlier described the teenager as "the most brutal" among the six attackers.

The Times of India said the gang-rape victim had "been denied justice" by the juvenile court.

"Almost everybody will agree that there is something wrong with a system that allows someone who has raped and brutalised a girl, resulting in her death, to walk free after just three years because he was a 'juvenile'," it said in a front-page editorial.

It is time for India to change the law and measure "the age below which a person is considered juvenile to the nature of the crime", it said.

Sushma Swaraj, leader of the opposition in the lower house of parliament, said on Twitter that she was set to introduce a bill on Friday, calling for amendments to juvenile laws.

"This meagre punishment of just three years does not do justice," Swaraj tweeted.

"The sentence must commensurate with the gravity of the offence irrespective of the age of the offender," she added.

The rape victim's family said they would continue to fight for a tougher punishment.

A petition in the Supreme Court has been filed by politician Subramanian Swamy challenging the law and requesting that the gravity of the crime be taken into account during sentencing.

The victim, a physiotherapy student, died of internal injuries two weeks after being raped and assaulted with an iron bar on the night of December 16. Her male companion was also beaten up before both were thrown bleeding from the bus.

A separate trial of the four adult suspects in a fast-track court is hearing closing arguments and is expected to wrap up in the next few weeks, with the men facing a possible death sentence if convicted.

The fifth adult, the suspected ring leader, died in jail in an apparent suicide.

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